


Escaping The Past

by ZealousWriter



Category: Runaways (TV 2017)
Genre: Anxiety, F/F, F/M, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-09
Updated: 2020-04-09
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:21:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23556736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZealousWriter/pseuds/ZealousWriter
Summary: Post S2 (Not Canon with S3)What if Chase was traumatized by the dream in the tube?(Wrote this a while ago, when S3 wasn't out yet. Decided to finally post)
Relationships: Chase Stein/Gertrude Yorkes, Karolina Dean/Nico Minoru
Comments: 1
Kudos: 10





	Escaping The Past

Chase didn’t know what day it was, he just knew he was exhausted. His hands were torn and bloody, his leg was twisted into a gruesome fracture. He sat on the ground heaving, his lungs aching for air. But then the screams would start again, Chase would muster every fiber of his being to stand up and charge towards the red hooded cult, running past the corpses of all his friends. And everytime he would get beat to shreds by the group, and only make it out of the crowd to find Gert yelping for the last time as the box sealed itself around her. Then as the tears salted his cheeks, the world would fade away and he’d be back in there room. Everything would reset to before, but the bruises and cuts would stay exactly as what had just happened. After this cycle repeated enough, Chase could feel himself echo the screams of Gert as he made his way slowly toward her. Soon it reached a point where both his legs couldn’t move anymore, and he would lay on the floor of their room listening to the symphony of her screams repeat over and over. It was almost enough to make a man go insane, and Chase wondered if he was. He didn’t know anymore if this world was a dream or real, but he let his face flood with tears. 

Somewhere in Mexico,

Gert had heard Dale tell this story before, it was about how he accidentally asked the lady at the convenience store for some chips and she had mistaken his poor Spanish for something rude. He even laughed at the same spot in the story as before.

“Dale…. you already said this like 15 times” growled Gert.

“Wow, I’m your dad. Don’t call me Dale”

“Well, I’ll consider calling you Dad, if you let me out of this damn car trunk”

“Watch your language”

From there he turned up the radio, and began to hum along to the tune. But little didn’t he know Gert had a plan for her escape. She had watched where he had hidden the keys to Old Lace’s trailer in the car, and the only thing she needed now was to get out first. She had continuously been pulled at the edge of the bars that had blocked out the back seats of the car, they had been poorly installed by Dale. And by the next rest stop she would able to fully pull them apart, sure her hands were a bloody mess but she had kept them hidden in the pocket of her sweatshirt so Dale was none the wiser. And as anticipated her plan did work, almost perfect except for the fact that she broke one of the bars in half leaving a jagged edge. So as she made her great escape the sharp piece as cut through her sweatshirt and grazed her stomach. She winced at the impact and look at it, the wound was bleeding immensely but wasn’t very deep… meaning she’d survive. From there Gert broke into a sprint, grabbed the keys and busting Old Lace’s cage open. They ran off into the hills with 400 bucks from Dale’s wallet as they heard him screeching in the distance. 

Back at the Hostel, 2 weeks after the group had split up,

“Ugh when are we gonna buy more peanut butter”  
moaned Alex, as he ate his stale crackers.

“After we find Gert” shouted Molly,

“And Karolina!” Said Nico.

They were in the living plotting another scheme to try and locate their missing friends. Honestly, they had very few leads at this point. That was until Alex’s radar on his fancy computer went off. He grinned at Nico, who had before said that project was a waste of time. He had been using his own crafted drone to scan the area of Brentwood for DNA matching Karolina’s. Nico and Molly didn’t believe she was there, and Alex had thought that their parents must have taken her back to one of their huge mansions. Thankfully the thought paided off as the group huddled around the computer for the results.

“Guys, I think she’s at Chase’s house” mumbled Alex

“Do you think she went willingly?” Said Molly.

“Hell no, she must have been captured” screeched Nico

“What about Chase, did he help with it then?”

“It doesn’t matter Molly if he did or not, we’re going to save Karolina not a traitor” Nico said fiercely.

“You’re damn right” said a voice from the darkness.

Suddenly the group spun around to see a disheveled Gert before them. Molly began to sprint towards her, and surprised her with an aggressive hug. Old Lace joined in, leaning her head on top of Molly’s. After the sweet reunion they parted slowly,

“Where have you been?”

“I got sorta kidnapped by Dale, but it’s find i had enough money to take a bus out of Mexico and back here. But I’m all good though” said Gert, lying through her teeth.

“Mexico?!”

“Yeahhhhh, anyways what’s the plan to raid Chase’s house” 

The next Day,

The van pulled up to the street beside Chase’s, and suddenly Gert’s because of the inevitability that they’d run into Chase. She wasn’t sure if she more mad at him than you missed him, the feelings had somehow blended together. She would be lying if sometimes during the cold nights in the desert of Mexico did thinking about Chase made her feel like everything was going to be okay. If she could find him and hug him, everything in the world would be right and that’s the hope that kept her alive during the hardships of her journey. But there was still the anger of being abandoned, and she knew she was too stubborn to let it go just yet. Without any more time to think the group charged out of the van with weapons in hand, then made their way stealthy to Chase’s house under the cover of the night sky. 

After disarming the security system and breaking in through the basement door they were presented with a completely dark room.

“Can you get us some light Nico?”

She responded with a nod, and did one of her spells suddenly the world became illuminated. And there before them were three beings in clear tubes, Gert just stood there shocked as she walked around the floating corpse that looked almost like Chase.

“We have to save them, even the traitors” muttered Molly.

“Yeah, they look like they could use our help” solemnly said Nico.

With that Molly punched the glass on Chase’s moms tube and as the glass shattered she fell into Molly’s arms. She then placed her gently on the ground, and headed to Karolina’s tube. As this was happening Gert couldn’t help but curiously inch forward towards chance, with subtle instinct she reached for his face to only be met with cold glass. But then a spark went through her body and slowly a blurry image of Chase laying on the floor was starting to come into focus. But suddenly she could her him scream, an endless, stomach turning wail, and she pulled her back in almost pain. She wasn’t sure what she had saw, but the sound couldn’t be erased from her mind. 

“What’s wrong?” asked Molly, who was making her way to Chase’s tube now.

Gert didn’t want to burden her younger sister, so she muttered, “Ummm, nothing.”

After shattering the last tube, Gert weakly caught Chase in her arms. She winced in pained but hid the expression on her face.

“What’s with the gloves” asked Molly.

“Oh México was just super cold” mumbled Gert, once again concealing the truth.

The group then tried to help Molly, carry all the still sleeping people back to the van, but she did most of the lifting. On the ride back, Karolina had woken up and was hugging Nico. She was telling the group about how she didn’t remember having any thoughts or dreams within the tube, which seemed true the easy, happy expression on her face. Chase’s mom had the same, she was leaning against the van wall saying how it was almost like a blank white space in her memory. She had spoken while quickly glancing over to Chase who was still sleeping, however resting his head on Gert’s lap. Gert didn’t make any comment about it, but she could feel how cold his skin was. 

After arriving back at the hostel, Gert told Molly to place Chase on her bed since he only had a hammock in the garage and would probably fall out of it. Since there was nothing more they could do before Chase woke up the rest of the group joined Xavin and Leslie as they had a feast to celebrate everyone coming home. Gert only ate a little bit, and then started back towards her room before a voice stopped her.

“Hey will you let me know when he wake up,” quietly spoke Chase’s Mom.

“Sure…”

“You really care about him don’t you”

“Maybe I do, but I wouldn’t go telling him that his brain will get too huge.”

That made Janet laugh as she turned back toward the dining room. Gert continued up the steps, and softly opened the door to her room. Light was streaming in and was making Chase’s brown hair look almost golden. He looked so calm sleeping, his chest lazily moving up and down to a smooth rhythm. Gert sat beside, without any thoughts she placed her hand through his mane and slowly began to stroke his hair. She remembered he used to like this, it would always make him fall asleep. But slowly he began to stir and his eyelids aggressively flickered. Gert jumped away, she didn’t want him to catch her like this, she wanted to stay furious for a little while longer. So she moved to a chair beside the bed and pulled out a book. But her eyes peered over the book as he woke up. Pain… that was the first thing she saw buried deep within his eyes. Then they began to water impulsively as he stared at the ceiling, his breath was suddenly frantic. But his breathing eased as the silence around him settled in, then he slowly move his body upright. But when he looked at her, when Chase’s eyes met Gert’s, the way his face twisted back in shock was something she had never seen before. His breathing became erratic again, but way worse than before. Gert knew what was happening because she’s experienced it before, he was having the worst panic attack of his entire life. Before she could say anything he sprinted out the door and down the stairs. She chased after his sped out the door of the mansion, but not after turning toward the crowd that had gathered saying “he just needs some space okay guys, I’m going to go talk to him”. When she finally escaped the dusty mansion hallways into the morning light, saw him curled up in a ball sitting on top of a hill. 

“It’s not real. It’s not real. It’s all my fault. It’s all my fault,” Chase was chanting this over and over to himself, his breathing still frantic and scared. Gert sat down beside him quietly and hugged him tightly, she knows that pressure on a person can help ease the anxiousness and fear. She always thought then when she made it out alive, big strong Chase would be right there to hug her, not the other way around. Maybe he didn’t always have to be the strong one. Chase’s breathing began to slow down and he leaned his head against Gert’s shoulder. Then he started to cry, earth shattering sobs, Gert had never ever seen him cry before. But then when he could cry no longer he sat up and stared at her through milky brown eyes. He tucked a stranded of faded purple hair behind her ear, and held her head in his hand. She leaned into his now warm palm and everything felt right in the world, for a minute she didn’t want to be angry at him.

“You’re real right?” He whispered gently.

“Yeah, I am”

His eyes began to well up again,  
“I’m so so sorry. Not just for abandoning you, but never being able to sa—“, he cut himself off short, the words almost too painful to say, “I’m sorry”.

“Chase, thank you for that. I’m not sure if I’m ready to forgive you for leaving, or even think about an us again. But I needed to hear that, and if you ever want to talk about what happened in there I’m here, always.” Gert spoke in a calm tone.

He nodded, “Right now I just don’t want to think about that, maybe we’ll talk another time”

Gert giggled a little she really did miss him, and suddenly she pulled him into a hug. And they sat there for a while staring out at the glowing horizon.


End file.
